2000 jobs safe as PowerHouse sold

Kiwi firm to the rescue

Common Topics

More than 2000 jobs at electricals retailer, PowerHouse, have been saved after the company was sold to New Zealand-based Pacific Retail Group (PRG).

PRG has taken over 142 sites, a majority of the company's operating infrastructure and staff. It also intends to retain the PowerHouse brand.

The announcement comes a fortnight after PowerHouse - the UK's largest independent electrical retailer - called in the receivers, deciding immediately to close 93 of its 223 stores with the loss of 813 jobs.

At the time receivers Nick Dargan and Neville Kahn of Deloitte & Touche said they wanted to sell the company as a going concern.

In a statement yesterday Dargan said: "We are exceptionally pleased to have sold this business as a going concern, which was our prime objective, and to have preserved over 2,000 jobs. Most commentators believed a break-up of the business was the most likely scenario, which would have generated less value for creditors."

Publicly-listed PRG runs the largest appliance retail group in New Zealand trading under the brands Noel Leeming, Bond and Bond, Big Byte. ®